Most Geographically Diverse Countries (China)

I’m shocked that no one brought up one country—China.

China is the most geographically diverse country in the world. Why?

Notice the map of Asia below. China has 14 climatic zones, while the next contender, India, has 9 climatic zones.

Half the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest, is found in China. (The other half is in Nepal.)

China has the Tibetan Plateau, the region with the highest average elevations in the world. There are glaciers, some of the highest lakes in the world, and snow leopards in this region.

Then there are the rainforests. (Most of these forests are gone because China has a lot of people, like India. But there are a few elephants left)

Then there are the waterfalls in China, that go from tropical waterfalls to waterfalls in temperate forests to waterfalls that freeze in winter.

In the rainforest region are the karst mountains and karst forests.

There are also tropical beaches in China, if you can believe it.

And China does have coral reefs around Hainan. But, like everything else, most of these reefs have been destroyed due to too many people living in China and very lax environmental regulation.

Then there are swampy coastlands of China, going from deciduous marshes where the plants change leaves in autumn (in this case, shocking red) to tropical marshes in the south.

Then there are the temperate deciduous forests of east-central China, which cover the regions where the winters get too cold for rainforests. The trees here change the color of their leaves in autumn.

In the temperate deciduous forests are the incredible Yellow Mountains. These mountains were the inspirations for all those classical Chinese paintings with all those crazy-looking mountains. Those are actual real mountains!

The bamboo forests of central China are home to its most renowned animal, the panda bear.

The huge alluvial plains of east-central China, the most agriculturally productive region on Earth.

China is so crowded that some farmers have taken to building huge rice terraces into the mountains, to grow more food for all those people.

China has the third longest river in the world, the Yangtze River, along with the Huang He River, the sixth longest river in the world.

There is the Loess Plateau, where the famous and very fertile yellow soil of China comes from. It is in this region where Chinese agriculture and civilization first arose.

Then there are the vast deserts of China, which reach the far inland mountain ranges and are quite diverse—from rocky to very sandy to painted.

The wide, open grasslands near the Mongolian border. You can even ride camels in winter there!

The Siberian forests in the far north, with winters so cold you can build ice palaces and such. (It’s also home to snow monkeys and Siberian tigers!)